Asa Hutchinson on Budget & Economy

Former Administrator of D.E.A.; former Republican Representative (AR-3)

Free enterprise is key to national prosperity

Question topic: Free enterprise and the right to private property turn mankind's natural self interest into the fairest and most productive economic system there is, and are the key to national prosperity.

AdWatch: Worked for lobbying firm after leaving Congress

The Democratic Governors Association said a group affiliated with it, "Jobs and Opportunity," has made a six-figure ad buy. The ad claims former Rep. Asa Hutchinson has a history of "wheeling and dealing" while the Democratic candidate, former Rep. Mike
Ross, displayed common sense & fiscal responsibility during his term. "D.C. lobbyist Asa Hutchinson has forgotten what Arkansas values look like," a spokesman said.

Hutchinson's campaign criticized the Democratic group's new ad. "This ad is misleading
and hypocritical. They need to check their facts. Asa was practicing law in Arkansas while Mike Ross was voting for these very bills in Washington."

The ad says Hutchinson and the firm where he worked after leaving Congress benefited from the stimulus
program. "While Hutchinson and his lobbying firm were cashing in on a stimulus bill and the Wall Street and Detroit bailouts, Mike Ross was fighting for a balanced budget amendment and voting against congressional pay raises," a Ross spokesman said.

Allow $3 on 1040 form to pay off National Debt.

Hutchinson co-sponsored allowing $3 on 1040 form to pay off National Debt

OFFICIAL CONGRESSIONAL SUMMARY: Amends the Internal Revenue Code to permit an individual to designate three dollars on his or her income tax return (six dollars on a joint return) to be used to reduce the public debt of the United States.

SPONSOR'S INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT: Pres. Eisenhower apparently once said that he believed that there could be no surplus as long as our Nation was in debt. I come from that school of thought, and yet that is not exactly where we are right now in Washington.

Where we are right now is debating whether or not 90 percent or 50 percent, or some number in between, of these projected future surpluses should be allocated to the debt. What struck me is the fact that really more than just the Congress should be involved in that debate. It is for that reason that I introduce today the Taxpayers' Choice Debt Reduction Act.

What this bill would do would be to simply take the 1040, the tax return as we now know it. And right now, we can send $3 to the
presidential campaign. This would create another box wherein we could send 3 bucks to debt reduction. That is not enough money to change our national debt, but it is enough money to make a small step in an important debate that we all ought to be a part of.

LEGISLATIVE OUTCOME: Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means; never called for a House vote.